What Are God's Goals?

© 2014 Carl Wells. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/09/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1226-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-1227-5 (e)

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New American Standard Harper Study Bible, 1985, Zondervan Bible Publishers

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Salvation or Eternal Punishment Model

Chapter 2. God’s Goals

Chapter 3. Searching for a Biblical Model of Christianity

Chapter 4. The Father God

Chapter 5. Jesus Christ the Son

Chapter 6. The Holy Spirit

Chapter 7. The Bible

Chapter 8. The Ten Commandments

Chapter 9. Seventeen Practical Uses of God’s Law

Chapter 10. Other Means Toward Reaching God’s Goals

Chapter 11. The Immediate Future

Chapter 12. Grace or Consequences

Chapter 13. Life After Death for the Unrepentant Wicked

Chapter 14. The Long-term Future

Appendix I. A Prayer

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

Other Books by the Author

For the God of the Bible: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May all of us, Christian and non-Christian, seek to understand your character better. May we think and live in ways which bring forth fruit which gives honor to you.

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

He will also hear their cry and will save them.

The LORD keeps all who love Him;

But all the wicked, He will destroy.

Psalm 145:19-20

Introduction

"But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,

But He does according to His will in the host of heaven

And among the inhabitants of earth;

And no one can ward off His hand

Or say to Him, ‘What hast Thou done?’"

Daniel 4:34-35

What are God’s goals? I think it is a question we seldom ask ourselves. We all tend to be pretty self-absorbed, and to consider things only from our own personal situation. If we have an improved understanding of what God wants to accomplish, it might—in fact should—allow us to have an improved ability to help Him reach those goals.

Some of what I write in this book may be unusual and speculative. That’s a fancy way of saying that some of what I write may be flat wrong. Take warning. Read and believe your Bible, and think for yourself.

I consider myself to be a Bible-believing Christian. Other Bible-believing Christians will agree with me on at least these two points: 1/The Bible is the inerrant word of the supernatural creator God delivered by God to mankind; 2/God expects us to believe that word and to obey it.

If what I have to say is right, on controversial issues or on non-controversial issues, it is right because I have interpreted the Bible correctly and am in a sense thinking God’s thoughts after Him. If what I say is wrong, it is because I have interpreted the Bible incorrectly.

Here are another two points on which all Christians probably will be able to agree with me: 1/God has goals; 2/God will accomplish His goals. As part of the epigraph above says, ‘He does according to His will in the host of heaven/And among the inhabitants of the earth;/And no one can ward off His hand/Or say to Him, ‘What hast Thou done?’’ (Dan. 4:35).

Other Christians may profoundly disagree with me on what God’s goals are, but at least they will agree that He has goals and that He accomplishes those goals, whatever they are.

The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations;

He frustrates the plans of the peoples.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever,

The plans of His heart from generation to generation. (Ps. 33:10-11)

The book of Isaiah makes a similar point. There God tells us that He will accomplish all His good pleasure.

"Remember the former things long past,

For I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,

And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;" (Isa. 46:9-10)

A major but very simple point of this book is that we Christians have failed to ask ourselves what God’s goals are. We have assumed we knew what His goals are, but without really thinking about the topic.

If we understand God’s goals correctly, it will profoundly affect how we think about our part in helping God reach His goals. On the other hand, if we understand incorrectly, this may well lead us to think and act in ways that are unwise, and therefore are of very little value in helping God reach His goals.

This, I think, is what has happened in American Christianity—and probably in world Christianity taken as a whole. Failing to understand God’s goals, we act in ways that bring forth far less fruitful fruit than we should be able to bring forth. In fact, our wrong understanding may and I think often does lead us to do things that are counterproductive in helping God reach His goals. Tripped up by our wrong thoughts and by our subsequent wrong actions, we are hampering God’s plan to reach His goals. We may be on the side of the angels and on the side of God, but our actions far too often are opposed to what God wants.

Once we understand God’s goals, we will be able to think through what our response to that information should be. This may—probably will—involve major changes in how we live our lives.

Change can be scary. But change can also be energizing. In tennis, sometimes we hear it said, Never change a winning game. In short, if you’re winning, don’t get tricky and change your strategy. Keep doing what you’re doing, and keep winning. This seems to me to be excellent advice.

However, what if you’re losing? Maybe then it is time to consider a change in strategy. Albert Einstein (or perhaps Rita Mae Brown) supposedly said that the definition of insanity is: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The U.S. church, it seems to me, is losing—and losing badly. We keep on thinking the same way and we keep on doing the same things, and we keep on losing.

Maybe a change in how we think about God’s goals will enable us to change how we live, to our benefit and to the benefit of others. We may even do a better job of pleasing God. Or maybe the changes I recommend would make us more rotten than ever! Again: think for yourself.

Chapter 1.

The Salvation or Eternal Punishment Model

But our God is in the heavens;

He does whatever He pleases.

Psalm 115:3

In most Bible-believing circles, the current Christian model of what God is trying to accomplish has to do largely (not completely) with salvation versus damnation. Most Christians believe God’s goal is, by the salvation available through Jesus Christ, to save some people from their sins to go to heaven for an eternity of joy after they die, and thus at the same time save those same people from going to hell after they die. Most Christians also believe that God’s goal for those people who are not saved is to torture them in hell for eternity. The damned will suffer conscious pain, psychic and physical, forever—that is, for all eternity. There will be degrees of punishment (Lk. 12:41-48, etc.), but the torment will be eternal.

Of course there are large differences in even the basic understanding of the model. Christians in the reformed camp (often called Calvinists) would stress that people are able to believe God and to trust Christ, solely by the grace of God—dead bones knitted to life by completely supernatural means (Ezek. 37:1-14; Eph. 2:1-9, etc.). Arminian Christians, on the other hand, see man as having more ability to choose salvation through Jesus Christ.

Moreover, many, many Christians would point out that paragraph one is a very truncated model of God’s goals. Christians on earth, they would correctly point out, are expected to grow in godliness, which brings benefits to many people and pleases God. God’s goals may be to save some and to condemn others to hell, but His goals also include a cleaned-up life on earth for those who believe in Jesus Christ.

I readily grant that the current Christian model of God’s goals is not solely concerned with eternal life in heaven for some versus eternal damnation in hell for others. However, I think this model is a crucial part of current Christian thinking.

Countless godly, intelligent, kind people—many of whom are highly learned in the Scriptures—believe that God’s goals are to bless some people—a relative few—for eternity, and to torture other people—a much larger number—for eternity.

I have begun to suspect that quite possibly this model is an import into our thinking, rather than what the Bible really teaches.

The remainder of this chapter will be a challenge to the current salvation/eternal torment model of Christianity. In Chapter 2 I will discuss what God’s goals are. In Chapter 3 I will suggest a model of Christianity which is a much more biblical alternative to the salvation versus eternal torment model which currently is so powerful and, I think, so disastrous in its consequences for the entire earth. No peeking ahead!

There are at least six problems with the salvation/eternal torment model of Christianity.

1/The salvation versus eternal torment model doesn’t work in terms of saving a lot of people. A bit of research on the Internet reveals that there are approximately 7.17 billion people in the world, as I type. Only 2 billion profess to be Christians. Barring a handful of expected conversions, that means that of the world’s current population, 2 billion of people currently living will spend an eternity of joy with God, while 5.17 billion will suffer eternal torment forever. This is a 27.9% success rate, but a 72.1% failure rate.

On the face of it, outwardly, it seems as if God is largely being defeated by Satan. While a few people are converted and saved, many more people will spend eternity in hell. Percentages could change for the better in the future, of course, but that will be too late for the many billions of people already inhabiting hell, or likely to inhabit hell in the very near future.

The news could be even worse than that, however. The 2 billion figure represents professing Christians. About.com says that there are only 648 million who are Evangelicals or Bible believing Christians. Many of the 2 billion are not truly Christians. That means that in a world population of 7.17 billion, only slightly more than 9% of currently living people will spend eternity with God. The other 91% will suffer torture for eternity. So, in essence, God has a 91% failure rate, in terms of fostering people into eternal life. (As we will see a few paragraphs below, the failure rate is even considerably higher, according to some Bible-believing Christians.)

The salvation versus eternal torment model is a failure in three specific ways. (Part B I have divided into two segments.)

A/It is a failure in reaching the non-Christian world. Most people remain unconverted to Christ, as we have seen.

B1/The salvation versus eternal torment model is a failure in the institutional church. Several years ago I asked, over the course of some months, two questions of 27 people. These were people (15 men, 12 women) whom I believed to be serious, committed Christians. My first question was how many professing Christians, with some connection to a church, had truly been converted by God in the U.S.? The average of their answers was 30.1%. My own experience in watching the American church for about four decades leads me to believe that such a figure seems a very close approximation of reality. This can’t be proved, of course.

So, within the institutional church itself, 30.1% were going to heaven, 69.9% were going to suffer torment in hell for eternity!

This is a failure on a scale of astonishing proportions, since we are talking about the church only, not the world at large.

However, this is not out of line with what we know of world Christianity as a whole. As mentioned previously, About.com says that only 648 million of the 2 billion professing Christians are Bible-believing Christians. That means we can be strongly hopeful of the eternal salvation of only a percentage of the 2 billion professing Christians. That percentage would be 32.4%—very similar to the collective wisdom of my friends and acquaintances concerning the U.S.

B2/It is a failure in keeping young people in the church. For example,

Data from the Southern Baptist Convention indicates that they are currently losing 70-88% of their youth after their freshman year in college. 70% of teenagers involved in church youth groups stop attending church within two years of their high school graduation.*

C/The salvation versus eternal torment model is a failure in moving truly converted people toward spiritual maturity.

I had a follow-up question to the 27 people to whom I spoke. That was, Of those true believers, what percentage are making a good contribution to building the kingdom of God? It could be in any one of a thousand ways. I got much more of a range of opinions on this question, but when the math was all done, the answer was that 39.2% of truly converted people in the U.S. were doing a good job of building the kingdom of God.

So among truly regenerated Christians, among people who really are believers and who really are going to spend eternity with God, only 2 out of 5 are doing a good job of helping God to build His kingdom.

It’s possible, in fact, that 39.2% is an optimistic figure. My own guess as to how many true Christians are doing a good job of advancing the kingdom of God was 5%. (My guess was not figured in the math.) I continue to believe that 5% is more realistic than 39.2%. But either figure is abysmally bad. Of God’s truly regenerated people, only 2 in 5 (or possibly only 1 in 20!) are bringing forth significant godly fruit.

Whichever figure is approximately correct, it is clear that the salvation versus eternal torment model of Christianity is basically a failure in terms of moving truly converted people toward spiritual maturity.

We have seen that the salvation/torture model of Christianity is to a large extent a failure in terms of saving people from hell, and in terms of moving them toward practical godliness. At first glance, the salvation/torture model seems impractical. However, we need to be very cautious. The possibility remains that perhaps the widespread failure of the gospel is exactly what God intends to happen. He will reach His goals, because He is the sovereign ruler of the universe. Perhaps He intends to have 9% (648,000,000) of people currently on the earth spend an eternity of joy with Him. And He intends that 91% (6,522,000,000) of the world’s teeming billions will spend eternity in hell, suffering whatever degree of torment He considers to be just and appropriate. God will accomplish His goals, whatever they are. A relative handful saved, billions in torment forever, may be exactly in accord with God’s goals. Or maybe we have misrepresented Him.

2/The salvation/torture model seems to be unjust. Those in the reformed camp—I include myself in their number—agree that our salvation is all of grace (Eph. 1-2:10, etc.) We understand—or more accurately we begin to understand—that we are the recipients of total grace, with no wise choosing of Christ on our part. Except for His grace, we would have continued to be His enemies. If we are in heaven, it will be by grace alone.

But why eternal torment for those who don’t receive grace? It doesn’t seem, on the surface at least, to be fair. We Christians couldn’t choose God, and also non-Christians couldn’t choose God. We Christians were wicked, non-Christians were wicked. We Christians received grace and eternal joy in heaven, non-Christians do not receive grace and do receive eternal torment in hell. This seems unfair.

Paul deals with these issues in Romans 9. Paul writes,

For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

You will say to me then, Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will? On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, Why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. (Rom. 9:15-24)

One thing all Christians will agree with me on is that there is no injustice in God. ‘The Rock! His work is perfect,/For all His ways are just;/A God of faithfulness and without injustice,/Righteous and upright is He’ (Deut. 32:4; compare Gen. 18:25; Job 34:10-12; Ps. 9:8; Ps. 19:9; Ps. 33:5; Jer. 9:24; Zeph. 3:5, etc.) The passages in the Bible praising God’s justice are nearly endless. In the sentence prior to the passage in Romans 9 which I have just quoted, Paul is careful to give a ringing affirmation that God is always just. What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! (Rom. 9:14).

So we can rest confident that God will do no injustice. If that means eternal torment for His enemies, we will likely be able to understand the justice of that when our spirits and intellects are perfected after death. Meanwhile, who are we to answer back to God? Clearly, extreme caution is indicated. But the passage in Romans 9 does not, it seems to me, claim that God torments people for eternity. Yes, some people are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Destruction may not necessarily mean eternal torment.

God will do no injustice. We see that He is just in pointing out our sins. We see that He is merciful in allowing us to be saved by Jesus Christ. We know that He will be no less than just to others. We hope and expect that He will be merciful to others—especially since we were not able of our own goodness and wisdom to choose Him.

At this point I need to recount a personal anecdote—something that really happened. I think it points up how vital it is that we all need to exercise extreme caution when we discuss the issue of eternal torment.

Some years ago I heard a sermon in which the pastor spoke out against abortion. Good for him! But one of the points he made, as sort of a brief side comment, was that most of the aborted babies would suffer eternal damnation.

This is an extraordinary statement, it seems to me. I questioned the pastor on this point, after the service. I had understood him correctly. I explained to him my disagreement, no doubt feebly and incompetently. I didn’t come close to changing his mind on the topic.

As far as I could tell, the congregation agreed with the pastor’s teaching. I never heard of anyone else questioning him, although I suppose there could have been someone who did. I heard no comments on the sermon.

This seems to me to be a textbook case in which the God of the Bible is operated on in order to fit the theology of the speaker. The speaker’s theological system came first. God’s character must fit into the system. It should be just the opposite, of course. God’s character and His word the Bible should be what shapes our theology.

Unquestionably the pastor would believe that he has not misrepresented God, and that God’s word and character were precisely what shaped the pastor’s theology.

But notice what he is saying: an unborn child who has never committed a sin will suffer eternal torment in hell by the direct order of God.

I can sympathize with the pastor, to a certain extent. The unborn baby, like all the children of Adam, bears the burden of original sin. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,/And in sin my mother conceived me (Ps. 51:5). If that child, instead of being aborted, was carried to term, was born, and lived for a few years, his sin nature would be evident. He would commit many sins.

To escape the punishment for his sins, the born child would need the Savior Jesus Christ.

The aborted child, it seems to me, also has a need for the grace of God through Jesus Christ. His sin nature, unchanged, would not be welcome in heaven. The aborted baby will need to be regenerated. Jesus Christ makes possible his regeneration. As eternity unfolds, the aborted child would become conscious that it was by the grace of God that he was created, and by the grace of God through Jesus Christ that he was regenerated.

The above three paragraphs speak to the centrality of Jesus Christ. All of us, born or unborn, need His grace. With this the pastor would agree at least in part.

But still he predicted that Jesus Christ would not give His grace to unborn children who had committed no specific sins, and that God would order the eternal torment of such aborted children.

Yet we know there is no injustice in God. The Bible stresses that, over and over. In fact, God hates injustice (Lev. 19:15; Isa. 10:1, etc.). As the years have unfolded, I have pondered how it is that an intelligent, Bible-believing pastor could believe that God justly would condemn aborted babies to eternal torment. His position, I believe, is not only incorrect. It is wildly over the top, a dramatic misrepresentation of the character of God, and of His justice. And yet the pastor’s statements probably seem orthodox—true to the Bible—to at least one strain of Bible-believing Christianity. According to this brand of Christianity, God’s goals include torturing aborted children for eternity.

If the pastor is correct, we see that the math on the percentage of people fated to suffer hell goes up slightly. There are currently somewhere